Elliott Major, research director at the Sutton Trust, claims buying a private education actually gets you so much more than an education - it buys you membership to an establishment that encourages children to build elite social networks from a very early age.

This early networking then repays the intial investment countless times over throughout a pupil's life by supercharging your career prospects. The fact that 70% of High Court judges were privately educated is testament to this.

If we really believe in promoting aspiration and opportunity, we need to do more to show young people that they can go as far as their talent can get them, not as far as society will let them.